Package for food products



Nov. 29, 1938 J. c. HERSHEY PACKAGE FOR FOOD PRODUCTS Filed April 10,'19s? a z z JOHN C. HERSHEY 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 29, 1938. J. c.HERSHEY PACKAGE FOR FOOD PRODUCTS Filed April 10, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2llllllllllllil Mn 3 5 R E H Q N H O J Patented Nov. 29, 1938 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE Application April 10, 1937, Serial No. 136,063

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in receptacles of the classsuitable for the packaging and display of articles of different kinds,and more especially bakery products such as cakes and the like.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved package for cakesetc., consisting of a transparent covered tray, the tray havingsufficient strength and stiffness to support the goods, and having atransparent cover which encloses the contents and renders the sameclear- 1y visible for display purposes, the transparent cover beingsupported from the tray by supporting means in the form of asupplemental tray formed from cardboard, the construction of the packagebeing such that the same may be easily and quicklyfilled and closed.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved bakery goodspackage, which is simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture,and thoroughly reliable and eificient in use.

With the foregoing and other objects and advantages in view, theinvention consists in the preferred construction and arrangement of theseveral parts which will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:--

Figure l is a top plan of a package constructed according to the presentinvention;

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan of the package shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged end View;

Fig. 4 is a vertical transverse section taken on the line 45 of Fig. 1;

5 Fig. 5 is a vertical longitudinal section taken on the line 55 of Fig.1; and

Fig. 6 is a perspective of the cardboard supplemental tray.

The main supporting element of the package comprises a metal pan or trayI I, preferably rectangular in form, and having upstanding side walls I2and upstanding end walls I3. The pan or tray I I is formed from suitablesheet metal, and the upper portions of the side and end walls of saidtray are reinforced by a suitable stiff wire I4 around which the sheetmetal is bent so as to provide a bead I5. The pan or tray II is of usualconstruction, well known in the art, and its purpose is to support theother parts of the package.

superposed on the bottom of the pan or tray I I, is a supplemental trayI6 formed from a sheet of inexpensive cardboard. The supplemental trayI6 is adapted to lie in the tray II and cover the entire bottom thereof,so as to prevent icings and other material of the cakes, etc., fromfalling onto or otherwise coming in contact with the bottom of the trayII.

At both ends, the supplemental tray I6 is formed with upstandingportions I1, and simihave a length approximately equal to the width W ofthe tray II, so as to provide suitable end supports for the cover of thedevice.

The cover is composed of thin flexible or foldable transparent sheetmaterial of any suitable kind, such for example as transparent paper orordinary fibre paper treated in any suitable or well known manner torender it transparent, or Cellophane or any of the other well known thintransparent flexible sheet cellulose products obtained from viscose.

Material for the cover should have sufiicient Width to extend from asuitable point under the bottom of the pan or tray II, upwardly over oneof the longitudinal sides of the device, across the top, then downwardlyof the opposite longitudinal side, and from thence to a suitable pointunder the bottom of the pan or tray I I.

When the cover 20 is thus Wrapped around the device, its freelongitudinal edges on the underneath of the pan or tray II are securedtogether bymeans of a plurality of strips of adjestive tape 23, as shownbest in Fig. 2. These strips of tape 23 may also be applied to theexposed surface of the underside of the tray I I, so as to more rigidlyand securely fasten the adjacent longitudinal edges of the cover to thetray.

The sheet of material from which the cover 20 is made is longer than thelength of the tray II, so that the ends of the cover can be foldeddownwardly over the upstanding ends I8 of the supplemental tray I5, asshown at 25, Figs. 3 and 5. The portions of the cover which projectoutwardly from the ends of the longitudinal sides of the package arealso adapted to be folded inwardly towards the ends I8, as indicated at26, Fig. 3.

The ends of cover 20 are then adapted to be securely fastened by meansof a plurality of strips of adhesive tape 21. These strips of tape mayextend from the top of the package and around the ends thereof, andterminate under the bottom of the pan or tray II, as shown in Figs. 1,2, 3 and 5.

If so desired the adhesive tape heretofore described may be formed fromstrips of material similar to the material used for the cover 20, towhich material a suitable adhesive is applied.

The package is adapted to be formed by first placing a cardboardsupplemental tray [6 in position in a metal pan or tray H, the portionsI! and I8 of the supplemental tray It being first bent upwardly, asshown in Fig. 6. The cakes or other bakery products, indicated by thebroken lines at 30, are now placed on the supplemental tray I6, afterwhich the cover 20 is wrapped around the device and secured thereto inthe manner heretofore described. By utilizing inexpensive cardboard forthe supplemental tray [6 and thin sheets of transparent wrappingmaterial for the cover 20, the cost of the package is very small, beingat the present time two or three cents for a package two feet long,about one foot in width and four inches in heighth. The portions I1 andI8 of the supplemental tray I6 should extend upwardly a distancesufficiently high to maintain the portion of the cover 20 whichconstitutes the top of the package in spaced relation, say approximatelyone-half inch, above the top of the cakes, etc., within the package.

By providing only two opposed upstanding side members l8 of thesupplemental tray 16, sufficient supporting means will be providedintermediate the ends of the package for retaining the cover 20 inposition above the contents of the package, and due to the transparencyof the cover material, obviously the contents of the package Will bedisplayed to a considerable extent.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A container for bakery products and the like, comprising a pan havinga relatively short upstanding wall of uniform height, a cardboard traymounted on the bottom of said pan so as to cover the same and havingupstanding end portions and upstanding side portions integral therewith,said upstanding end and side portions projecting upwardly above saidwall, said up standing side portions of the cardboard being of lesslength than the length of the side wall of said pan, a Wrapper of sheetmaterial having its ends folded downwardly to enclose the upstandingends of said cardboard tray and its longitudinal edges folded under thebottom of said pan, said wrapper being supported in spaced relationabove said pan by said upstanding portions of said tray and strips ofadhesive tape for securing the free edges of said wrapper to said panand to the ends of said tray.

2. A container for bakery products and the like, comprising a sheetmetal pan having a relatively short upstanding wall, a cardboard sheetsuperposed upon the bottom of said pan and having an area approximatelythe same as the area of the bottom of the pan so as to cover the bottomof said pan, end portions integrally formed with said cardboard sheetand projecting upwardly above said wall of the pan, relatively narrowdiametrically disposed side portions integrally formed With saidcardboard sheet and projecting upwardly above said pan to a heightapproximately the same as the height of said end portions, and a coverof sheet material wrapping said pan and said cardboard sheet andsupported in spaced relation above said pan by said upstanding portionsof said cardboard sheet.

JOHN C. HERSHEY.

